12 Things to Do in New Orleans With Kids (That Are Fun for You, Too)

New Orleans—with kids? Believe it or not, the Big Easy is just as crazy-fun with a crew of youngsters as it is with a gaggle of bachelorettes. You might not be hitting up Bourbon Street at 3 a.m., but kids inspire you to make the most of experiences like historic Audubon Park, the St. Charles Street Car, and a gator-spotting swamp tour. There’s also nothing quite like watching your littles get in to the NOLA spirit—and by that, we mean dance to live jazz, hunt for ghosts, and leave empty plates of po' boys and beignets. Intrigued? Read on for the best things to do with your kids in New Orleans.

Audubon Park, which runs from St. Charles Avenue down to the Mississippi River, is home to the Audubon Zoo and Audubon Aquarium. It’s the green space itself, though, that we like to explore, for its ancient oak trees and awesome playgrounds. There's also Bird Island, a nesting and migratory base for thousands of birds, which sits in the middle of a lagoon, and the Tree of Life, a favorite spot for climbing—unless a wedding is taking place there, of course.

Magic Box Toys, which opened in 1995, is a classic, independent shop stocked with everything from nostalgia-inducing favorites (Lite Brites) and serious Legos to stuffed animals and simple wooden gadgets for tots. Don't leave without a NOLA-inspired gift; say, a locally designed beignet play-food set or a book by a local author. If you happen to be visiting on a Wednesday morning, stick around for the 10:30 a.m. storytime and sing-along.

Slated to open at the end of summer 2019 in City Park, the new Louisiana Children's Museum—a campus for kids, really—will focus on hands-on, interactive, and educational activities. (Until then, the museum’s original Julia Street location is open.) The 8.5-acre property has interactive and sensory experiences at every turn. Inside are spaces such as the Play With Me room, designed for babies and toddlers, which includes a puppet theater and reading nook. There’s also the Follow that Food space, where kids can shop for veggies, weigh and count fruit, and "cook" in a Creole kitchen. Outside, there’s a sensory garden, a lawn with toddler toys, and a lagoon.

Set in the U.S. Custom House, which dates back to 1848, the Audubon Butterfly Sanctuary and Insectarium is the largest museum in North America dedicated to insects. Not only are there loads of displays with live insects, there are also exhibits—tunnels and walkways—that make you feel bug-sized. The most popular exhibit is the butterfly garden, which houses around 700 free-flying butterflies, plus a koi pond that’s home to red-footed tortoises. Even cockroaches get their moment of glory in the Insects of New Orleans gallery, where a miniaturized '50s kitchen makes them look huge.

French Quartour Kids has several tours—the Creole Kids Tour and the Music History Tour, among others—but the Spooky Tour is the most popular. Families tour haunted sites (like the LaLaurie Mansion and Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar) and use ghost-hunting tools like ectoplasm, mirrors, and thermal energy readers to do their own detecting. The guides are all teachers, and they do an excellent job making the experience educational, interactive, and playful—tip them well.

A ride in the St. Charles Streetcar isn’t a guide-led tour, but much like a public ferry across the Bosporus in Istanbul, or riding in a black cab through London, it’s an iconic way to see New Orleans. It's also a hit among kids. The streetcars themselves—dark green with switchback wooden seats, industrial lights, and push-up windows—are loads of fun. Plus, this is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world, having been built by North Carolina–based Perley A. Thomas Car Company in the early 1920s.

Although Audubon Park is better known among travelers, City Park is cherished among locals—especially families. Within it, there are several playgrounds, green spaces, and the largest collection of mature live oaks on the planet. You're just as likely to see an adventurous climber on one of the live oaks as you are Spanish moss, and there are several sites worth visiting within the 1,300 acres. The park is easy to navigate, with ample parking around the perimeter and plenty of pathways for strolling (and strollers).

Only in NOLA will you find a national park that's dedicated to jazz. But that's not even the best part of New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park—many of the rangers at this federal site are actually jazz musicians themselves. You can pepper them with questions about the history and landscape of the music, and can even hear them play. While the park itself is comprised of about four acres of land in the middle of Louis Armstrong Park, the jazz center hosts events around the city; check the website for a full calendar.

At St. Roch Market, you can vendor-hop for Gulf oysters from Elysian Seafood, Bloody Marys at the Mayhaw, and a Vietnamese-style Po-Boy from T2 Street Food. Sit yourself down at wooden tables, marble counters, or outside under umbrellas. Kids will love the grilled cheeses and tomato soup from Doily, tacos and quesadillas from Chido, and smoothies from the Daily Beet. The market's informal seating makes it easy for antsy little ones to explore.

It’s easy to take a trip to New Orleans and never even lay eyes on the Mighty Mississippi, a working river with industrial grit. This trip on the Algiers Ferry, which connects the French Quarter to historic Algiers Point, brings the waterway front and center. Board the ferry, which runs every 30 minutes, at the bottom of Canal Street, and end in Algiers, New Orleans’s second-oldest neighborhood.

Fair Grounds is a cherished horse-racing course in New Orleans that has attracted sports enthusiasts, gamblers, and families for almost 150 years. Unlike Churchill Downs or Ascot, this this race course is unpretentious, and just as fun (and certainly attainable) for a family on a budget as a family willing to splurge. Kids will love the Paddock, where they can watch the horses parade before the race starts. They can also stand along the fence to watch the races up-close.

Cajun Encounters Tours' flat-bottom boats zip along the waterways and canals of Honey Island Swamp, 35 miles from the heart of New Orleans, which teems with gators, boars, and birds. With bald cypress and tupelo trees overhead, guides will point out the gators and—on occasion—lure them with bait, offering an up-close view of their powerful jaws. Although these tours may look a tad cheesy from the outset—reality TV shows about hunting gators haven’t helped—they're educational, fun, and perfect for families.